The Train

Metrolink in California shares the tracks with Amtrak and freighters. The row after row of freight cars rumbling on the tracks are covered with graffiti. This must be the artist's choice of canvas! As we waited for our train in Fullerton, noisy trains either whooshed by or briefly stopped to load passengers.

When our train arrived we rushed in and looked for  place to sit. There were no seats together and we separated to find seats on the crowded train.  Via our cell phones we communicated on where to meet  once we were in Los Angeles. Taking the train is a stress reliever because it is a fast way to travel without having to deal with a lot of traffic!

The scenery is not the greatest but I did see some interesting things along the way. Walls of fancy graffiti would end and there would be the fuscia-magenta bougainvillea. I liked the bridges we passed and made me think of a foreign country because they looked as if they were built a long time ago!

When we arrived in Los Angeles, some of us wandered through the elegant old station.
I remembered seeing the comfortable, individual chairs in movies. The floors glistened, the motif of what looked like a sea shell was beautiful, and people moved through the station admiring the clean station. Some people looked as if they had some where to go while others just seemed to be calmly waiting with their luggage!

We left the train depot and crossed a busy street and there was Olvera Street. The last time I had been to the replica of Mexico was about fifty years ago.  It seemed larger to me this time and it was fun playing the tourist and seeing La Placita Church: Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles, 1781; the booths with goods for sale, and statues of King Carlos III and Antonio Aguilar.

After our tourist moments at La Placita of Los Angeles, we got on a bus that would take us to MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art which will be my next blog!

"The basis of tourism is perception of otherness, 
of something being different from the usual."
Lucy M. Long